Intercultural Communication course, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 2006
Constructivist definition of culture; generalizations & stereotypes, cultural identity, levels of cultural analysis, DMIS adaptation strategies
We should not be asking what things really are and how to descrive them accurately; rather, we should be asking how to observe and describe things appropriately for our purpose. >> read more
In his seminal book, Silent Language (1959), the anthropologist Edward T. Hall coined the term “intercultural communication” and defined the initial conditions for understanding how people can communicate across cultural boundaries. This work was motivated by the task he and his linguist colleague George Trager faced at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in the early 1950’s, which was to prepare international development workers and business people to be more effective in cross-cultural situations. >>read more
This reading is an edited compilation of two articles by Milton J. Bennett: “Developing Intercultural Competence for Global Managers” in Reineke, Rolf- Dieter (Editor) (June, 2001) Interkulturelles Managment. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag, ISBN: 3-409-11794-6 and “An Intercultural Mindset and Skillset for Global Leadership” from Conference Proceedings of Leadership Without Borders: Developing Global Leaders. Adelphi, MD: National leadership Institute and the Center for Creative Leadership, University of Maryland University College, 2001. Revised 2016, >> read more
from
Volume One: Theoretical, Lega Cultural Factors, Edward Dunbar, Amalio Blanco, and Desirée A. Crèvecoeur-MacPhail, Editors Praeger (2016)
All organisms behave, but, as far as we know, only humans also explain behavior. Organisms routinely destroy other organisms for various reasons, but only humans ask why. One answer is “hatred.” Clearly it is not necessary to hate another organism in order to destroy it, but the idea is commonly invoked as an explanation for human violence. >> read more
The Value of Cultural Diversity: Rhetoric and Reality, Meeting Report on Fellows Day, International Academy of Intercultural Research 9th Biennial Congress, Bergen, Norway, 2016
This report originally summarized the presentation and discussion that occurred during the Fellows Day session of the 9th Biennial Congress of the International Academy of Intercultural Research held in Bergen, Norway June 28, 2015. Because it was a report and not an original research article, descriptions of concepts are intentionally truncated and referencing is restricted to establishing context more than linking to other contemporary treatments of the issue. >> read more
Presentation for CFC/FSEA Conference, The Formation of Sustainable Citizenship, Monte Carasso, Switzerland February 5, 2015.
The issue of citizenship for our time is how to reconcile unity and diversity. By “unity,” I mean the commonality of purpose that allows groups to compete and survive in their environments. By “diversity,” I mean the variety of ways that human beings have devised to attain that commonality of purpose. >> read more
The term “ethnocentrism” was coined by William Graham Sumner in reference to the view that one’s own group is the center of everything, with others judged in terms of the familiar standards of that group >> read more
Intercultural communication is the study and practice of communication across cultural contexts. It applies equally to domestic cultural differences such as ethnicity and gender and to international differences such as those associated with nationality or world region. >> read more
A cultural generalization is a statement about a group of people. For instance, saying that US Americans tend to be more individualistic compared to many other cultural groups is an accurate generalization about that group. A cultural generalization may become a stereotype if it is definitively applied to individual members of the group. For instance, it would be stereotyping a particular person to assume that he or she must be individualistic by virtue of being a US American. >> read more
Constructivism is an epistemological position commonly found in communication theory, cultural anthropology, developmental psychology, and learning theory. It holds that knowledge and experience of the world is constructed, not discovered. >> read more
Two interviews with Milton J. Bennett: “How he created the DMIS” and “Cultural Identity and Integration”. >> read more
Levels of Analysis of Culture
Abstract: While a considerable amount of research in the field of intercultural communication has been devoted to empirical and theoretical studies on cultural differences, comparatively little work has been devoted to normative studies which consider how problems which arise because of cultural differences might be resolved (see, however, Evanoff 2004 for a bibliography of recent publications in this area). >> read more
Description of the various stages of the DMIS and Developing competence for every stage >> read more
Like the MBMconference, FILE included research at both the secondary and highe reducation levels. Specifically, the focus of the conference was on 1) the definition and measurement of intercultural competence, and 2) the narration of re-entry experience by returning exchange students. >> read more
Abstract
Liberal arts education has traditionally taken the responsibility of preparing students to be intellectually competent and ethical citizens of society. But now society has evolved into “global villages” where people of different national and ethnic heritage increasingly live side by side in real and virtual environments. >> read more
Original draft: Social justice and intercultural development: New views on campus intergroup relations, published as Developing intercultural sensitivity: A model to improve intergroup relations on campus. Leadership Exchange Magazine, Fall 2007. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators >> read more
Intercultural relations is an unusual academic specialty among the social sciences. This is in part because it specifies a relatively specific domain as its focus. >> read more
Le relazioni interculturali rappresentano una prospettiva accademica inusuale nelle scienze sociali. Ciò è dovuto in parte al fatto che esse si concentrano su un campo relativamente specifico. >> read more
Abstract
Normative theories of the ethical stances sojourners should adopt with respect to their host cultures typically encourage sojourners to either adapt themselves to the norms of the host culture or maintain their own ethical norms while simultaneously ‘‘respecting’’ the norms of the host culture. This paper argues for an alternative approach which suggests that cross-cultural dialogue on ethics can lead to the creation of synergetic ‘‘third cultures’’ which integrate positive aspects of each of the original cultures in novel ways. >> read more
In J.S. Wurzel (Ed.) Toward multiculturalism: A reader in multicultural education. Newton, MA: Intercultural Resource Corporation (2004)
After years of observing all kinds of people dealing (or not) with cross-cultural situations, I decided to try to make sense of what was happening to them. I wanted to explain why some people seemed to get a lot better at communicating across cultural boundaries while other people didn’t improve at all, and I thought that if I were able to explain why this happened, trainers and educators could do a better job of preparing people for cross-cultural encounters. >>read more
We want to speak of the feeling of one’s own culture and the feeling for other cultures. This subject is important to interculturalists because much of their work concerns ethnocentrism, and the most fundamental fact of ethnocentrism is that things simply “feel right” in one’s own culture. >> read more
This topic addresses the central topic of the internationalization of higher education in the current international economic context facing neoliberal globalization>> read more
